Christian Marclay is not performing on this CD, whose musical direction was handed out to Elliott Sharp, but he did design the composition it features (Marclay being a conceptual artist with no formal musical training). During an artist residency in Berlin, Marclay decided to paste virgin sheet music all over the city – underground marketing blitz-style. As expected, these posters were soon covered with graffitis of all kinds (and even some music notation). Marclay and his team photographed the posters and replaced them regularly with fresh ones to collect more material – hundreds of “pages”, as it turned out. Out of the lot, Marclay retained 150 for esthetical reasons, and these now make up a graphic score with a very open-ended structure. For this particular realization of “Graffiti Composition”, Marclay entrusted Elliott Sharp with the task of putting together a guitar ensemble. Melvin Gibbs, Mary Halvorson, Vernon Reid, Lee Ranaldo and Sharp trace a path (one of many possibilities) through the score for 40 minutes. A panel of guitarists as diverse as they come (well, almost), very nuanced music, not brutal despite its ferocious aspect, and occasionally getting very close to drone music. A brilliant concept, a great performance.

This is the band guitarist Stian Westerhus (whose latest solo opus I reviewed last week) shares with keyboardist Øystein Moen (Jaga Jazzist) and drummer Gard Nilssen (Bushman’s Revenge). An improvised rock trio with a progressive slant, not too heavy, rather textural even, though the music holds some intense and energetic moments. More rock than Supersilent, but a lot less formal or beat-driven than Bushman’s Revenge. Not super-remarkable, but nice. It’s probably a grower.

It’s summertime, it’s hot, I don’t have any work to do, so I’m cleaning around the appartment: the perfect scenario to fully enjoy the frilly kitsch of Señor Coconut. I prefer his Kraftwerk record (soooo weird), but this one was pretty nice too. Not always successful though – his cover of Elton John’s “Blue Eyes” sticks too close to the original, falling flat. It needed more honey or less obsequiousness. On the other hand “Riders on the Storm,” “Beat It” and the surprising “Oxygene II” are all classic in the field of kitsch reconstruction (latin style). And the “Version Suave” of “Smooth Operator” (a B side later added to the reissue as a bonus track) is quite irresistible, right?

Released in June 2009, this album is unremarkable. It’s good Acid Mothers Temple, but that’s it. Well balanced between frenetic jams and more aerial themes, but nothing stands out compared to other albums in the 2008-2010 time bracket. Still worth mentioning is the strange song “Blessing of the Load Galaxy”, which sounds like Bob Dylan singing some Timothy Leary. The other tracks are run-of-the-mill. (The vinyl edition adds two tracks; they may change the perception of the album).